INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS DAY 2016

Stand Up for Migrants' Rights Today

On the occasion of International Migrants Day, 18 December, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is featuring the following stories to highlight the Office’s work to safeguard and promote the human rights of migrants and refugees. More people than ever are on the move and the challenges raised by large-scale movements of refugees and migrants fuel our call for a renewed global commitment to uphold and protect the human rights, safety and dignity of migrants and refugees.

Protecting Migrants in TransitThroughout 2016 the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights dispatched a series of monitoring missions to various border locations in Europe, including Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and France to assess the human rights challenges and protection gaps faced by migrants and refugees in transit. The UN Human Rights team met with migrants, State officials, civil society representatives, UN agencies and other stakeholders, reinforcing partnerships with all actors to promote improved global governance to strengthen protections for the human rights of migrants and refugees.

The following stories, videos, report and press release offer a glimpse of the UN Human Rights Office missions to these countries, in addition to a new report on the situation of migrants in transit in Libya.

A new UN report has found the breakdown in the Libyan justice system has led to a state of impunity in which migrants are subjected to serious human rights violations and abuses by detention centre officials and the armed groups and traffickers that control the migration flow through Libya.

TOGETHER is a global UN campaign that aims to change negative perceptions and attitudes towards refugees and migrants, and to strengthen the social contract between host countries and communities, and refugees and migrants. For more information on the TOGETHER campaign: https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/together.